Bavarian Sauerkraut Salad to Welcome Fall

Early this morning, before dawn even, thunder rumbled in the distance, breezes gently stirred the windchimes into a soft melody... no rain was yet falling, but you could sense it in the ripe and ready atmosphere.  Hot, humid air was being bullied out of the way by a much welcome and anticipated cold front.  Hurry up!  Get here!  Get rid of this sticky stuff...I'm ready for you Fall!

So I happily stayed awake enjoying the stealth of the weather creeping closer.  The wind picked up, the music of the chimes became up-tempo jazz, thunder was joined by lightning to put on quite the show while raindrops beat a soft sizzle counter-rhythm.  Not for long though, as a BOOM of thunder ignited an explosion of lightning. Wind roared and whistled outside the window and drumming rain drowned out all else.  

Well done, Fall.  You know how to make an entrance!

Here is an appropriate Fall-ish dish.

 Bavarian Sauerkraut Salad or Relish

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 16 ounce can sauerkraut, Bavarian style (has caraway seeds)
• 3/4 cup celery, chopped fine
• 1/4 cup green pepper, chopped fine
• 1/2 small onion, chopped fine
• 1/4 cup pimiento, chopped fine

In a small pot, stir together sugar and vinegar.  Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  (Watch this carefully, it doesn't take long.  You don't want smoking, black sugar and vinegar caramel.  Don't ask how I know that.) Remove from heat.  Cool.

Mix the sugar/vinegar syrup into the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate overnight or just for an hour if that's all you have.  Good as salad or as relish for German sausages.  Double the recipe if you're going to serve it as a salad.

NOTE:  I originally enjoyed this sweet & sour treat in the late 80's at a covered dish dinner.  A neighbor brought it, everyone loved it!  She said it was a "secret" recipe and no, she wouldn't divulge the secret.  Her wonderful daughter, Merry, shared it with every one of us the next day.  Turns out, it wasn't so secret after all.  It's the same recipe that apparently everyone has...it's all over the place.  So I'm sharing this not-so-secret secret recipe with all of YOU. 

(I did change it up a little, though.  The original recipe just added the sugar and vinegar to the rest of the ingredients without cooking - I like to be sure the sugar dissolves before adding to the veggies.  You can do it either way you like!  

One more thing...I thought I had a green pepper.  I didn't.  I DID have a poblano pepper...hey, it was green!  I liked it even better!  The mild heat of a poblano was just right - I think a jalapeno would be too much.)

     

Hawaiian Dog with Fresh Pineapple Serrano Relish

It's Thursday.  The work week is almost at an end, but not quite.  At this point, energy and inspiration are getting pretty low...even here on Dinner Plan-it.  I resorted to hot dogs for dinner tonight.  Oh yes I did!   

Well, actually I planned them for tonight (helllooooo...this is Dinner PLAN-it!) and even made a batch of fresh pineapple relish over the weekend in preparation to jazz up the old dog.  

It isn't like pineapple relish is something new on a dog. This was inspired by the raves I've read about the new (old) Station Street Hot Dogs in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh.  They have a Hawaii Dog topped with pineapple salsa, bacon, sweet soy sauce and mint.  I haven't been over to give it a try yet, but I'm getting there soon!  In the meantime, here's my recipe for this colorful, zippy and delicious pineapple relish.  Try it on hamburgers or chicken burgers or pork burgers, too.  Or with tortilla chips!

Fresh Pineapple Serrano Relish

•  1 C. fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, cut into chunks
• 1/4 C. red bell pepper, seeded, chopped
• 1 serrano chile, seeded, ribs removed, diced finely
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced
• 3 T. cider vinegar
• 1 t. olive oil
• 1 t. sugar
• 1/2 t. salt, or more to taste
• 1/2 t. mustard seed
• 1 t. dijon mustard

In a small pot, combine red pepper, chile pepper, garlic, onion, vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and mustard seed and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until the veggies are soft.  Remove from heat.

In a food processor, add pineapple chunks to bowl, pour hot veggie mixture over top and pulse until mixture is a coarse relish - just short of what you want the finished relish to be.  Add the dijon and pulse to the finished consistency you want.  

I've over-processed this and fixed it by adding a little finely diced red pepper, pineapple and serrano at the end to make it pretty.  If you overdo it, it won't make a difference in taste, just presentation.  

Serve the relish spooned over hot dogs - maybe smear a little mustard on the bun, too.  Or, do it up like Station Street Hot Dog and lay on the bacon and sweet soy!

NOTE:  Udi's makes a really good gluten-free hot dog bun so if you're gluten-free, you can enjoy a hot dog just the way God intended.  On a real bun!